MY HISTORY HERO

Actor, comedian and BBC DJ Craig Charles chooses

A SPACE MENAGERIE

During the space race, animals pavedthe way for humans to travel beyond Earth. Stephen Walker shines a light on these largely forgotten creatures and their often fatal journeys

Alfred Fagon - A Unique Caribbean Voice

Having migrated from Jamaica as a teenager, Alfred Fagon emerged as a powerful playwright who created African-Caribbean characters to speak truths about the challenges facing black people in Britain. Stephen Bourne introduces a writer who helped transform black British theatre in the 1970s and 80s

What Makes a Greek?

Michael Scott enjoys an informed and entertaining journey through the history of Greek-speaking people, but takes issue with the framing of the book

Coded Language

Michael Wood praises a pioneering study of the transformation of Chinese script, and how this helped fuel the growth of the nation into one of the world's superpowers

A National Institution

As it approached its second decade, the BBC's happy-go-lucky attitude was fading fast. And, as David Hendy reveals in the second instalment of our 13-part series tracing the corporation's cultural impact, the government was now taking a keen interest

Battle of Wills

Mark White commends a wide-ranging investigation into the psychological dimensions of the Cold War and the crucial role fear played in shaping American and Soviet strategies

Who is Britain's greatest monarch?

This year marks the platinum jubilee of Elizabeth II, Britain's longest-serving monarch. But which of the kings and queens since 1066 made the biggest mark on history? We asked 12 experts to offer their nominations - and to explain what made each one truly great

Cursed lives

MARION GIBSON recommends an evocative deep-dive into a witchcraft trial that rocked 17th-century New England

A very ordinary king

HEATHER JONES is impressed by a new biography that reveals insights about the wartime monarch’s impressive political achievements, complex personal life and family failings

A timber-framed Tardis

Incongruously sandwiched between shops and pubs in a Norfolk market town stands a Tudor building crammed with stories spanning more than two millennia of local history. PRIYA ATWAL explores Ancient House Museum of Thetford Life

Emily Soldene - Actress, writer, rebel

As the darling of London’s opera scene, and then as a journalist printing scandalous revelations about the cream of society, Emily Soldene thrived in the limelight. HELEN BATTEN explains why this trendsetting, rule-breaking, genre-hopping Victorian celebrity deserves to take centre stage once more

Fight for a Nation

Costas Douzinas on a study of the revolution by which Greece freed itself from the Ottoman empire and was transformed into a self-ruling nation-state

Queen of Spies

Victoria controlled an extensive network of intelligence sources that fed explosive revelations to the British government - or direct to her. Rory Cormac and Richard J Aldrich investigate her adventures in espionage

Looting history

DAVID OLUSOGA praises a stark exploration of the bloodsoaked British raid that plundered the treasures of Benin

A KING OF FIRE AND LIGHT

French ruler Louis IX was a Catholic hero and a vicious anti-Semite, a patron of exquisite art and a fervent burner of books. Matthew Gabriele and David M Perry consider the tangled legacy of a man who embodies both the horrors and beauty of medieval Europe

The worlds first superhero

When Alexander the Great died at the age of 32, his transformation into multicultural icon was only just beginning. Edmund Richardson chronicles the Macedonian king’s remarkable afterlife as the original global A-lister

America's Fall Guy

King George III has long been cast as the crazed despot who squandered America. Yet, argues Andrew Roberts, this grim characterisation is the result not of hard facts but a historical stitch-up

Windows Onto History

From the glittering stained glass in medieval cathedrals to modernist high-rises, windows have illuminated our buildings for centuries. But, argues Rachel Hurdley, the presenter of a new BBC Radio 4 documentary on the history of windows, they can also shed light on the past

Instability Is A Problem That Has Recurred Throughout The History Of Afghanistan

In August, Taliban forces regained control of Afghanistan as US forces withdrew after two decades in the country. How can history help make sense of this seismic moment? We asked a panel of experts INTERVIEW BY MATT ELTON

MEDIEVAL DUELS

In 1386, two Frenchmen fought a duel in a field outside Paris, each seeking to bury his blade in the other's body. One combatant had been accused of raping the other's wife, a charge he denied vehemently. After an initial verdict of innocence was returned, the accuser demanded a trial by combat. The judgment was now God's alone... ...who would be chosen to die?

ROYAL The duke of duplicity

SARAH GRISTWOOD on a new profile of Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson that casts them in a distinctly unflattering light

FIVE BIG QUESTIONS ABOUT...Going to church in the Middle Ages

From social interaction to confessing your sins, Nicholas Orme reveals why the church HistoryExtra played such a central role in medieval life PODCAST INTERVIEW BY DAVID MUSGROVE

Dark forces

MARION GIBSON praises a retelling of a 17th-century witchcraft trial that never loses sight of the women at its heart, nor the social and economic factors that contributed to their plight

The (Surprisingly) Modern Middle Ages

From devastating climate change to deadly pandemics, the challenges that kept our medieval ancestors awake at night weren’t so different from those preoccupying us today, says Dan Jones

The Kings And Queens Of Hearts

Sarah Gristwood reveals how the Tudor monarchs exploited the medieval obsession with courtly love – a romantic creed inspired by the idea of valiant knights risking their lives to woo fair ladies – to further their own agendas

The end of empires

RICHARD J EVANS lauds an innovative work that re-examines the Second World War in the context of global imperial ambitions

Let's cherish this shining light of the great Bronze Age civilisations

THE TAMILS’ GLITTERING CULTURAL UNIVERSE

War between friends

CORMAC O GRADA commends an ambitious attempt to objectively examine the conflict that pitted Irish people against each other in the wake of the bloody War of Independence

Prejudice on the pitch

The racist abuse experienced by some of England’s black footballers after the team’s defeat in the Euro 2020 championship final in July thrust the issue of racism in the sport back into the spotlight. MATTHEW TAYLOR charts the causes and consequences of more than a century of discrimination